10th February 2017
Sitting in silence, I see you smile, I can do that? It’s easy. Then welcome to our circle…
After a day fraught with travel problems, work, school children, all the daily actions, it may seem the ideal dream that you wish to do at the end of it.
Coming along on Monday night to sit in the silence at the London Spiritual Mission, this maybe just that, the haven you are looking for, time for yourself, quiet mind, deep relaxation, a comfortable, safe hour of peace and pure bliss. One arrives full of chatter, pleasantries, a welcome warm drink, then slowly we relax, sit down and close our eyes.
The fight then begins, my mind wanders, it sorts, it boxes, ideas, plans, shopping lists, things to do, things I should not forget, stop! I’m supposed to be silent. The space is quiet and warm, yet it’s my mind that is busy. How am I going to be silent in my mind? I panic, squeeze my eyes shut and
relax. I’m mentally working my way through a series of ways to keep my brain quiet … I see the darkness in my eyes, I concentrate on my breathing, inhale through the nose, slowly release through the mouth. Feel the breath, moving slowly, down my spine, slowly light a channel of energy …. I do great, repeating this four, five times, then my mind wants to take over…. I lose my mind in the chaos, sorting, planning, I catch myself, I retreat into blackness to work with my breathing. I switch off in time before the group is called to slowly come back into the space to awaken and I grow accustomed again to the LSM’s surroundings.
My mind is quiet, as if it’s had a sleep-in, was that what I came for? Yet there are many evenings like this, that I have at circle. It takes me many times to learn the process of calming my mind. Some evenings, even practising on my own at home or sitting in the park, this is a learning process. The more I push to hear what my brain might be telling me, the ten steps back I go…
In time, I learn it’s when I least expect it that I achieve something, that golden moment of clarity. It’s like an inspired way to sort a problem I’d been wrestling with. It’s a conversation with a friend I had not seen for ages, or its pathway I never thought of, it’s like a signpost that I come away from, astounded, amazed yet there is clarity, there is acceptance that in that stillness I have gained another level of consciousness that is there guiding me. Elation. It is about grounding a surreal infinity of something else that is guiding me: this is the magic of quiet mind.
I continue each time I sit in silence. I close my mind, I struggle, I try again, I shut out the chatter. I slowly gain the momentum to quietly listen to my inner voice. Each time it reaffirms for me in a very noisy world the need to tune into this inner sanctum for clarity, reassurance, whatever our brains are thinking, listening to, chattering about. This is deep down, hidden, waiting to be discovered. This even more amazing level of inspiration and clarity we have yet to tap into… For only those who are willing to quiet the mind, will they hear more.